From: Sandy Petersen (sandyp@idgecko.idsoftware.com)
Date: Tue 20 Aug 1996 - 23:58:56 EEST
>I would like to believe that governments had some interest in
>protecting the public, but I just don't see it in the historical
>stuff I read.
Of course they did. Governments banned murder, blood feuds,
the duello, and other activities that led to harming the public. They
banned vile activities (such as theatrical arts) that they feared
would lead to the moral corruption of the community. They banned
false religions which could cost their folk their immortal souls.
They exiled or killed off communities which did not fit into society
(such as Moriscos in Spain, Christians in Japan, Irish in Ireland).
They banned miscegenation, in early attempts at genetics. They
forbade the murder of servants, homosexuality, working on Sunday,
etc. In medieval Germany, most towns had a vigorously enforced
curfew, because all right-thinking folk ought to be in bed when it
was late.
By our standards, many of these laws had a malign,
oppressive, and interfering nature, but the intent was frequently a
do-gooders' attempt to help others.
>Yes, dead citizens don't pay taxes, but did anybody care in earlier
>times?
You bet. Some places forbade killing serfs without reason.
More obviously, a lot of places forbade any attempt at birth control,
less their numbers decrease.
>It seems to me that even today laws made to protect people are
>started by private citizens or groups.
What is a medieval government but a private citizen or group?
There was no distinction between public and private duty. As late as
the 1600s, Prince Conde of France was able to turn traitor and war
against his brother, the king, then return to good favor. Such an act
nowadays would be considered high treason, unforgiveable. At that
time, it was just a family quarrel gone seriously awry. Because the
government was "owned" by those who governed, Ferdinand Marcos-style
looting of the public was standard practice.
>You claim that quarantines are old. I think that people didn't know
>that many diseases are contagious until a few hundred years ago.
They absolutely knew that disease spread by contact. The
bubonic plague was often blamed on "plague-spreaders", usually Jews,
who were accused of wiping virulent matter on walls, or seeding wells
with contagion. The ancients often burned the clothing, even the
house, of a man who had died of disease -- this was known among
primitive societies as much as among highly civilized ones. Of
course, this didn't mean that certain diseases couldn't also be
spread by other means, such as witches, bad air, the moon, the sight
of something horrible, etc.
Lepers were isolated from the general population as of
thousands of years ago. Refugees from the Black Death were not
allowed to enter many cities and ports (at least the authorities
tried to prevent it). Homes in which a death from certain diseases
took place were boarded up, and the survivors fed through holes in
the walls, kept prisoner in their house for a month or longer, until
they had all died from the illness, or it was determined that they
were going to survive.
One of the reasons for the success of Christianity in the
Roman Empire was the appearance of some serious epidemics during the
2nd and 3rd centuries. Standard pagan practice was to flee the sick,
leaving them to die in their homes. But Christians were exhorted to
tend the sick, and many did. Naturally enough, a sick person tended
by a Christian was rather more impressed by his nurse's faith, and
made invidious comparisons with his former friends who'd fled to the
countryside, and each epidemic was followed by an increase in
Christian strength. (Of course, Christians often caught the illness
through their practices, but they had a better chance of surviving
malaria, smallpox, etc. because they were nursed through it. Probably
differential survival accounts for some of the Christian expansion,
too. See PLAGUES AND PEOPLES for more info.)
DISEASE IN GLORANTHA
Now, in Glorantha, disease is an ever-present threat. On the one
hand, there exist healers (such as Chalana Arroy, Deezola, Xemela,
etc. adherents) who are clearly more effective than any medieval
physician (though probably not so good as a skilled Roman, Incan, or
Hindu doctor). Even better, these healers are themselves quite
resistant to disease, so they can safely enter a sick house and purge
the ailments.
But on the other hand, there actually _are_ plague-spreaders
in Glorantha, unlike Earth. Malians, broos, harpies, evil ocean
beings, to name a few. For that matter, any evil magician can summon
a disease spirit and send it vs. his foes. This does not wholly
counteract the curative effects of the healers, but it's got to hurt.
Gloranthan diseases, in general, seem to come in two main
types: chronic wasting ailments and highly lethal epidemics.
The chronic ailments are, of course, the Big Five (The
Shakes, Brain Fever, etc.), plus a number of lesser sicknesses
recorded in various places (Creeping Crud, Sniffles, Blotches, etc.).
PCs know and detest these from time immemorial.
The epidemics are mainly known from histories and other
accounts. As in "Jolar was devastated by the White Plague", or "a
withering ailment struck down Errinoru's house and their special
flowers". Most of these epidemics appear to have been extremely
fatal, rapid in their progress, and regional in nature. Perhaps
because such plagues are most neatly encapsuled in literary
reference. In general, Glorantha seems void of real-world sicknesses.
I have decided, on my own nickel, that the various epidemics
In my current campaign, the players are locked up in a castle
of Glorantha are, in fact, real-world diseases, which explains their
devastating nature and the vagueness in their descriptions.
with other refugees from a cholera epidemic raging outside. I can't
say much more about the epidemic, its causes and cures, because Guy
Hoyle reads the dang list.
Sandy
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End of Glorantha Digest V3 #136
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